First place: Top writer wasn't always at the head of the class

She's come a long way since preschool.

Olivia Maude Lee started school while living in France, where everything was new and difficult to understand.

"At nap time, I'd just cry every day," she said, adding that the only help came from a teacher who wanted her to fit in. "She used her teaching talents to help me at one of the most unstable times of my life."

Now, Lee leads classmates and family members with her own quiet confidence, as she participates in multiple team sports and student government. She gets a kick out of being in charge and organizing events at Timpview High School, but she rarely creates tension in doing so, as she declares herself "a peacemaker."

She's used what that preschool teacher taught her to learn to sing and play guitar. Now she's performed at various venues, singing self-compositions in front of crowds as big as 150.

Although she's the first-place winner of the Deseret News Young Writers Contest, which she "entered on a whim," Lee said it isn't easy for her to write her own thoughts on paper, and until she took one of her mother's English classes, Lee didn't think she could write at all. Her winning essay was an expansion of something she wrote for a recent college application, describing a way she could give back to the community.

Lee keeps herself busy with school and other things, but when she can, she camps out in her eclectic room, full of vintage sewing projects and other things to keep her mind and heart occupied.

"I'm kind of unique. I wear a lot of weird clothes, but I love it," she said.

Although she'd love to spend her prize money on a closet full of clothes, Lee said she'll save it for school in the upcoming years, as she'll attend Brigham Young University, where her parents are both teachers. She hasn't decided what she'll be when she grows up, but Lee said she hopes it is something that "combines all my abilities and hobbies." She might end up somewhere in film, designing costumes or sets for blockbuster breakthroughs — at least that is her dream.

e-mail: wleonard@desnews.com

Avoir L'espoir: Annie & Chords of Hope

by Olivia Maude Lee

Timpview High School